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R.F. Langley
Roger Francis Langley (October 23, 1938 - January 25, 2011) was an English poet and teacher. During his life, he was loosely affiliated with the Cambridge poetry scene. Life Langley was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. He was educated in Walsall, and then at Jesus College, Cambridge. He went on to teach Art History and English Literature in secondary schools including Wolverhampton Grammar School and, later, [[Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in [[Sutton Coldfield.[http://www.shearsman.com/archive/samples/2006/RFLsampler.pdf R.F. Langley 2006. Journals (Shearsman Press), p. 7] Publishing most of his work during the final decade of his life, Roger Langley first disseminated his poetry through small presses, periodicals,[http://www.lrb.co.uk/contributors/lang01 London Review of Books] and anthologies,K. Tuma (ed.), Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2001) including The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English (1999).M. Schmidt (ed.), The Harvill Book of Twentieth Century Poetry in English (Harvill, 1999) He published two collections of poetry with Carcanet Press during his lifetime: Collected Poems Poems'' (2000) and The Face of It Face of It'' (2007). His first Carcanet collection was nominated for a Whitbread Book Award. Throughout his life, Langley maintained a journal, extracts from which were a regular feature in the poetry journal PN Review, and which were published in book form by Shearsman Press in 2006.R.F. Langley, Shearsman Books. Web, Nov. 1, 2014. Writing Although he lived in South Staffordshire most of his life, in the villages of Stonnall and Shenstone,R.F. Langley 2006. Journals (Shearsman Press), p. 7 the inspiration for much of Langley's work came from the landscapes of Suffolk, where he resided during the closing years of his life. His range of reference was, however, extremely broad, and was informed by close acquaintance with the art criticism of Adrian Stokes and the work of psychoanalyst Melanie Klein.T. Allen and A. Duncan (eds), Don't start me talking: interviews with contemporary poets (Salt Publishing, 2006) Recognition Langley was posthumously awarded the 2011 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, for "To a Nightingale","To a Nightingale" described by the judges as "a masterclass in precision".BBC News, 5 October 2011 Publications Poetry *''Hem''. London: Infernal Methods, 1978. *''Sidelong''. Cambridge, UK: Infernal Methods, 1981. *''Man Jack''. Cambridge, UK: ). P. Riley (Poetical Histories No. 30), 1993. *''Twelve Poems''. Cambridge, UK: Infernal Methods, 1994. *''Jack''. Cambridge, UK: Equipage, 1998. *''Collected Poems''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 2000. *''More or Less''. London: Many Press, 2002. *''Twine''. Norwich, UK: Landfill, 2004. *''The Face of It''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet Press, 2007. Journals *''Journals''. Exeter, UK: Shearsman, 2006. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:R.F. Langley, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 5, 2014. Audio / video *''R.F. Langley: Reading from his poems''. London: Poetry Archive, 2005. See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *"To a Nightingale" ;Audio / video *R.F. Langley profile and poems written and audio at The Poetry Archive ;About *R.F. Langley (1938-2011) at Carcanet Press *R.F. Langley at Shearsman Books *"Poet and diarist R.F. Langley dies", The Guardian, January 26, 2011 *R.F. Langley Obituary by Peter Riley, The Guardian, March 7, 2011 *Cerulean, Spiders and Nursery Rhymes: R.F. Langley, The Poetry Society Category:1938 births Category:2011 deaths Category:British poets Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:People from Staffordshire Category:People from Rugby (borough) Category:People educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:Poets